Creating high-resolution spherical video, i.e., video that captures a complete 360 degree by 360 degree field of view, is currently a complex and arduous process requiring specialized hardware and software systems that are often expensive, inadequate, unreliable, hard to learn, and difficult to use. Presently, creating this video requires an omni-directional, spherical camera that includes a customized hardware device and/or system utilizing multiple cameras to simultaneously capture video from multiple directions to create spherical video files. Spherical video files derived from such systems are used in conjunction with specialized software applications, called spherical viewers. Spherical viewers allow the user to interactively look around inside a spherical environment, giving them the impression that they are actually within the pre-recorded or live scene itself. Spherical viewers can be developed for the web, desktop, and mobile devices. How the spherical viewer is developed will depend entirely on the kind, and number, of video files the spherical camera system produces.
Currently, there are two primary types of omni-directional recording systems: adaptors, i.e., lens mounts; and spherical camera heads. The primary limitation of both systems is that they are incapable of functioning without the utilization of additional hardware components that must be purchased, configured, and used together to form a piecemeal operational solution. Because these existing systems require multiple components to function, the inherent risk for malfunction or recording problems increases. For example, if one component in either piecemeal system fails, the entire system fails to operate adequately or at all. In addition to the added risk of malfunction, there are also the added costs to purchasing these extra components and ensuring that each extra component is capable of appropriately interacting with all of the other components.
Furthermore, lens adaptors are not, by their very nature, designed to record content. These adaptors are instead designed to rely on separate recording devices, such as a camcorders to which the adaptors are attached, to acquire content and create a video file. In most cases, unless the adaptor was designed for a specific camera, results from these systems are often unpredictable, inadequate, and inconsistent. Because these adaptors are often not designed for specific cameras but are instead generic, both the adaptor and the camera system must be calibrated and adjusted once the adaptor has been attached. This most often requires that additional components be attached between the adaptor and the camera, such as mounting rings, with each additional component affecting the quality, consistency, and reliability of the resulting video file.
In the case of generic adaptors, it is left to the consumer to properly configure the camera to yield the best results, often with little or no documentation, suggestions, or support on how to properly configure the camera to operate with the generic lens adaptor. As a result, it usually takes a considerable amount of the consumer's time and patience to get the system working adequately. In some cases, despite one's best efforts, a particular camera is not able to yield good results from an adaptor regardless of what is done. In the end, the adaptor approach does not provide an adequate means for recording spherical video.
Spherical camera heads, like the lens adaptors described above, also require separate specialized hardware components to operate. The camera head unit typically requires a separate, independent computer attached to the camera head, such as a high-performance laptop computer. The Immersive Media Dodeca 2360 and the Ladybug 3 camera by Point Grey Research are two examples of such systems. The Ladybug 3 is a five pound spherical camera comprised of six lenses integrated into a single housing unit. The cost of the system is extremely high ($18,000) and requires the purchase of additional equipment to appropriately power and operate the camera. Generally, a portable configuration requires a specialized, custom configured laptop to operate the camera for capturing video. These custom laptops, however, often require both custom hardware and software to operate sufficiently. These include specific Operating Systems (“OS” or “OSes”) that will work with the camera's specific Software Development Kit (“SDK”), large amounts of RAM, fast processors, specific hardware ports (e.g., FireWire 800) and high-speed hard drives capable of acquiring the data from the camera, such as the Intel X25-M Solid State Drive. Also, because the camera consumes a significant amount of power during operation, additional power sources are often required to provide enough power for all the various components, such as multiple laptop batteries and/or other external (portable) power sources. These camera heads provide no audio support, requiring the addition of even more components, i.e., audio acquisition components, to these piecemeal systems.
Moreover, these existing systems do not provide sufficient software for delivering this content to the public, either on the desktop, Internet, or a mobile device. The consumer must once again purchase additional, 3rd party software designed to handle the spherical media file formats. All of these combined components and elements make the resulting systems expensive to operate, with costs easily exceeding $25,000 or more, and needlessly complex with multiple points of potential failure. Worse still is that, due to the incredible number of elements involved, the stability and reliability of these systems is poor, often resulting in unacceptable video quality, such as dropped video frames, or complete system shutdowns during production. Creating spherical video with the present existing systems requires that the consumer be both financially and technically affluent, as well as requiring a tremendous amount of patience.
Another significant limitation of the existing systems is their inability to natively interface with mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. As noted above, the video must be first captured by either a camcorder with an appropriate lens adaptor or a camera head and then processed by a highly customized computer capable of creating spherical video files. In other words, the inherent limitations of the existing systems prevent a consumer from using their existing mobile devices, such as iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, to work natively with these camera systems.
Furthermore, none of the existing systems permit a consumer to immediately create and share spherical video content with others online.
Overall, these complex and expensive systems are primarily suited for those with a background in computer hardware and software technology with a significant budget to spend, rather than the common consumer. However, even those consumers with a background considered suitable for these systems will still be confronted by a significant lack of clear operational guidelines and support due to the piecemeal nature of these systems. Due to these significant limiting factors, omni-directional video is not currently being recognized, understood, or embraced by consumers and the general public. Instead, it been has restricted to only those with both the financial means to afford the technology and the technical background to understand and use it fully.